TOWNS LACK FISCALS TO HEAR DRUGS CASES

The reason why most drug cases in towns are dismissed is due to lack
of prosecutors, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said.

PDEA legal consultant Paul Clarence Oaminal, during a consultative
meeting called by the committee on dangerous drugs of the Cebu
provincial board, said that as much as 50 percent of the drug cases in
the municipalities are dismissed because of the shortage of
prosecutors.

Regional state prosecutor Antonio Arellano admitted to the shortage of
prosecutors in the Cebu province. Arellano said that there are only
seven prosecutors in the province that would appear for all of the
cases in 30 different courts scattered all over Cebu.

Considering the distance, Arellano said that it is impossible for
seven prosecutors to appear in all of the scheduled hearings.

Regional trial court judge Gabriel Inglis suggested that the
Department of Justice should train the chiefs of police in the
different towns to prosecute drug cases and have them deputized.

But Arellano pointed out that even when chiefs of police are actually
authorized by the DOJ to act as prosecutors to light offenses, them
being non-lawyers could not qualify to prosecute drug cases as such
are highly technical in nature.

Arellano said that the only solution to address the problem is to fill
in all vacant positions at the prosecutor's office. Based on the
plantilla, the Cebu province needs 23 more fiscals.

Provincial board member Luigi Quisumbing, chairman of the committee on
dangerous drugs, said that he would sponsor a resolution on Monday
requesting President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to have the vacant
positions in the provincial prosecutor's office filled up.